The present invention relates to a mixer and an apparatus comprising the mixer.
Mixers are used for mixing several components. The latter can be gaseous, liquid or solid and miscible or non-miscible. Mixing is an operation which occurs in all types of industry, which gives it considerable importance.
EP-A-0,325,865 discloses a mixer for mixing cooking ingredients. This mixer comprises a mixing device in the form of a recumbent U, comprising two upper and lower horizontal branches, connected to each other at one of their ends by a vertical branch. The lower horizontal branch comprises a vane for mixing the ingredients. The device is driven in rotation by a vertical shaft at the free end of the upper horizontal branch. The rotation of the recumbent U by the vertical shaft effects the rotation of the vane about a horizontal axis by a transmission in the U. This mixer has the drawback that the ingredients are not only mixed by the vane but also by the other branches of the U which beat the ingredients during their rotation about the vertical shaft. Consequently, mixing is difficult to control and not uniform.
FR-A-2,336,168 discloses a mixer. According to one embodiment, the mixer comprises a first, substantially vertical, shaft driven in rotation about its vertical axis and driving a second shaft about an axis that is inclined relative to the axis of the first shaft. The second shaft is driven by the first shaft via an angular member in the centre of a sphere. The second shaft carries a stirring member. A movement of the assembly about the axis of the vertical shaft can result only from the torque caused by the rotation of the stirring member about the second shaft. The drawback is that the rotation of the assembly about the axis of the vertical shaft is not controlled; the rotation is influenced by the quantity and viscosity of the ingredients in the vessel. Consequently, the mixing is difficult to control and not uniform.